Democracy is overrated!
Democracy is considered the best form of government throughout the world. The ancient Athenian Democracy must be the best of its kind, which was direct rather than representative. However, Socrates had a different view about the nature of democracy. According to Socrates, democracy is an inherently flawed system of governance. In other words, democracy is overrated! And we are already starting to see the signs of it. Somebody had to say it!
The Allegory of the Ship
In The Republic (Book Six), Socrates is trying to explain the flaws of democracy to Adeimantus with an analogy of a ship. It is common sense (and wise) to let the person educated in the rules and demands of seafaring take charge of the ship. In this case, the captain of the ship. The same logic applies to choosing the right person to run a country.
If we let the so-called democracy take over the process of choosing the captain of the ship, we are more likely to end up with someone with little to no knowledge regarding a sea vessel.
Would you trust your life to an incompetent captain of the ship in a stormy sea? Would you accept to be operated by an incompetent surgeon? Certainly not! Then why on earth should we let the decisions of “incompetent” voters and rulers decide the fate of our country?
Democracy is Incompetent
Voting rights are considered to be the lifeblood of any democracy. Popular votes decide any course of action in a democracy. In fact, democracy was responsible for sentencing Socrates to death. His death sentence was decided by a narrow margin of popular votes. In short, Socrates was killed through a democratic process. What an irony!
Socrates is not the only one who finds this flaw in democracy. Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Father and third President of the greatest democracy in the world, gives his honest impression of Democracy.
“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” — Thomas Jefferson
The main reason behind the failure of democracy is the incompetent voters, who are usually ignorant, irrational, and misinformed. They can be easily manipulated by those vying for powers during an election.
Democracy and Wisdom
Socrates emphasized the virtue of knowledge and wisdom in choosing the representative in a democratic system. He made a thoughtful distinction between an intellectual democracy and a democracy by birthright. Voting in an election is a skill that should be taught and not merely left to intuition. This is where knowledge and wisdom on the part of both the ruler and the voters are of utmost importance.
Modern Democracy is a disguised form of Machiavellianism where the powerful look for opportunities to manipulate the citizenry to advance their vested interests disguised as public policies. Going back to the analogy of ship, giving voting rights to the incompetent, ignorant, and irrational voters without connecting it to wisdom is as good as choosing the captain of the ship with popular votes. At the end of the day, they get a celebrity and not the skilled captain who can safely take them to their destination. The voyage is doomed, just like our democracy.
No wonder, democracy is an inherently flawed system that denies justice and virtue. It is not democracy, but demagoguery and voters are just some foolish hooligans. Sooner or later, democracy will lead to anarchy, which is no better than mob rule. To be brutally honest, it is just an advanced and subtle form of slavery.
“A man is no less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years.”
—Herbert Spencer
—Herbert Spencer
Philosopher Kings
Plato proposed the concept of philosopher-king as the best form of government, where the ruler values wisdom more than power. The political rule depends on knowledge, and not power. Otherwise, the nations would just be ruled by bullies and brutes who look to control and manipulate the foolish voters to get hold of the power.
Let’s not blame the rulers for being evil. Since democracy is a government of the people, by the people, for the people, it is us, the people that should take the responsibility to ensure good governance for us.
As long as we are foolish, democracy will always be flawed. The flaw is not only about the rulers or the system, it is about the citizens—the voters.
The long-term solution to this flaw of democracy is to value knowledge and wisdom instead of power and personal benefits. And it all starts with Philosophy.
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